The Nikkei 225 fell 1.2% to below 57,000, while the broader Topix declined 0.7% to 3,855 on Friday, pulling back from record highs and tracking losses on Wall Street amid renewed worries about the AI sector. US stocks sold off on persistent doubts over the durability of elevated AI-related capital spending, with concerns about disruptions to traditional business models weighing on multiple sectors.
SoftBank Group, widely viewed as Japan’s key AI proxy, dropped more than 5%, despite swinging back to a quarterly profit on valuation gains linked to OpenAI. HR technology leader Recruit Holdings slid 7%, and industrial conglomerate Hitachi lost 4%.
In contrast, Kioxia Holdings jumped 12% after reporting strong quarterly earnings, boosted by an AI-driven surge in NAND flash memory prices. Despite Friday’s retreat, both benchmark indexes remain on course to log weekly gains, supported by optimism that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s policy agenda will bolster domestic growth without jeopardizing Japan’s fiscal stability.
